International Initiatives

Digital accessibility is considered a priority in major global initiatives such as The Disability Inclusion Strategy, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), the 2030 agenda for sustainable development, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and the International Telecommunication Union(ITU) standards.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development included disability in many goals and targets with clear call for cooperative efforts in achieving the goals pertaining persons with disabilities, which goes in line with the CRPD. Namely SDG1 and SDG2 poverty and hunger, education (SDG 4), gender equality and empowerment of women and girls with disabilities (SDG 5), decent work and economic growth and industry (SDG 8), innovation and infrastructure (SDG 9) in particular access to ICT (target 9.c).

The ITU’s strategic Plan 2020-2023^[3] Goal 2: Inclusiveness, and Target 2.9 which calls upon all countries to create accessible ICT environment for persons with disabilities by 2023. Since the adoption of the UN CRPD in 2006, 82 countries and regional organizations signed on the declaration and 44 countries signed the optional protocol with a single ratification^[4]. Today however, 181 countries have ratified the convention and 163 countries are signatories. According to the UN numbers, 96 countries ratified the optional protocol with 94 signatories^[5].

The articles of the CRPD clearly calls upon all (countries and organizations) signatories to the convention to participate in regulatory development of laws and policies ensuring the rights of persons with disabilities and the implementation of such rules. The fundamental issue of accessibility is clearly highlighted in (Article 9) of the Convention requiring the elimination of any barrier facing persons with disabilities and to ensure equal and reasonable access to public facilities, services, and ICT infrastructure.

The United Nations, in a resolution^[6] adopted by the general assembly on 18 December 2009, “requests the Secretary-General to continue the progressive implementation of standards and guidelines for the accessibility of facilities and services of the United Nations system”. Since then, the department of global communications at the UN took on the task of promoting web accessibility within the UN system and to fulfil the principle of inclusion. They dedicated a website^[7] to guide designers in developing accessible webpages that are easy to navigate with simple layout and organized to help not only for persons with disabilities but for the general public on equal basis. The site recommends simple and clear requirements based on WCAG guidelines to create multilingualism content, navigation, design, scripts, forms and site validation.